Prevalence of Helminths Parasites among Dogs and Risk Factors of Zoonotic Infections by Dog Owners in Bende Local Government Area, Abia State, Nigeria

Dogs, as the most common pet animal worldwide, habours a wide range of intestinal parasites with zoonotic potential, thus raising serious concern over public health. This study presents the intestinal helminthes in dogs and risk factors associated with dog owners in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. The dogs’ faecal samples were examined using formal-ether sedimentation techniques. Questionnaire was administered to elicit responses from the dog owners. A total of 110 faecal samples collected randomly from dogs were processed and examined for helminthes eggs. The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes was 39.1%. Prevalence was higher in Bende-Ovu 39.7% than Umuoshie 38.1%. There was no statistical relationship found in both communities (P>0.05). The four species of parasites identified were Ancylostoma caninum (44.2%), Toxocara canis (30.2%), Diphylidium caninum (23.3%) and Trichuris vulpis (2.3%) with Ancylostoma caninum occurring most 59.2% in Bende-Ovu and Toxocara canis (56.2%) in Umuoshie. This was statistically significant (P<0.05). Basenji breeds had the highest infection (51.1%) while Greyhound breed had the least prevalence (2.3%). Female (47.8%) were more infected in Bende-Ovu than male (35.6%) while in Umusohie, male (39.1%) were more infected than the female (36.8%). Prevalence pattern was age dependent in the two  communities but this was statistically insignificant (P>0.05). There is greater statistical significance (P<0.05) in the prevalence of breed in relation to sex of the dogs in Bende-Ovu (39.7%) as compared with dogs in Umuoshie (38.1%; P>0.05). Age related prevalence in the breed of dogs’ in Bende-Ovu and Umuoshie were not statistically significant (P>0.05). Questionnaire analyses revealed that majority (64.6%) of the dog owners are not aware of canine zoonosis. Most (58.4%) of them don’t take diseases  transmitted by dogs seriously. The trend of the breed and species prevalence of zoonotic intestinal parasites of dogs observed in this study constitutes public health problems in the study area. Therefore, intervention measures such as health education should be provided to dog owners to reduce the risk of transmission of parasites from dogs to humans.